Nouns denoting natural phenomena
- cold weather
- a period of unusually cold weather
- continental drift
- the gradual movement and formation of continents (as described by plate tectonics)
- fluorescence
- light emitted during absorption of radiation of some other (invisible) wavelength
- dust devil
- a miniature whirlwind strong enough to whip dust and leaves and litter into the air
- microwave
- a short electromagnetic wave (longer than infrared but shorter than radio waves); used for radar and microwave ovens and for transmitting telephone, facsimile, video and data
- emf
- the rate at which energy is drawn from a source that produces a flow of electricity in a circuit; expressed in volts
- strain
- (physics) deformation of a physical body under the action of applied forces
- windage
- the retarding force of air friction on a moving object
- fume
- a cloud of fine particles suspended in a gas
- bloom
- a powdery deposit on a surface
- occlusion
- (meteorology) a composite front when colder air surrounds a mass of warm air and forces it aloft
- work
- (physics) a manifestation of energy; the transfer of energy from one physical system to another expressed as the product of a force and the distance through which it moves a body in the direction of that force
- rocket propulsion
- reaction propulsion using stored oxygen for combustion; used where there is insufficient atmospheric oxygen
- firestorm
- a storm in which violent winds are drawn into the column of hot air rising over a severely bombed area
- friction
- the resistance encountered when one body is moved in contact with another
- spillover
- (economics) any indirect effect of public expenditure
- magnetic resonance
- resonance of electrons or atoms or molecules or nuclei to radiation frequencies as a result of space quantization in a magnetic field
- placebo effect
- any effect that seems to be a consequence of administering a placebo; the change is usually beneficial and is assumed result from the person's faith in the treatment or preconceptions about what the experimental drug was supposed to do; pharmacologists were the first to talk about placebo effects but now the idea has been generalized to many situations having nothing to do with drugs
- paramagnetism
- materials like aluminum or platinum become magnetized in a magnetic field but it disappears when the field is removed
- brush discharge
- discharge between electrodes creating visible streamers of ionized particles
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